Julie Nutting Paper Dolls

I'm obsessed.  Seriously.  I've got it bad.   And like all my obsessions I make sure others get obsessed too.  It's usually one of my sisters.  This time it's Carolynne.  I don't remember how I discovered Julie Nutting dolls. I think it was because my friend Caron is obsessed ( are you seeing a theme here?) and she showed them to me.   I really don't remember.  Carolynne doesn't have her own dolls so of course I stamped out dozens for her and outfits and shoes and leggings and skirts and tops and... and ... and... well, you get the idea.

Last year, about this time, we decided to challenge each other to make a doll tag and stay within some given parameters.  We chose the colors red, white and black and newspaper.  We also had to use the same doll stamp. Then we took pictures of our finished tags and sent them to each other.  Here's the result.

This is Carolynne's doll.  Isn't she gorgeous?  Of course, Carolynne had to alter her from the original.  It's how she rolls.

The layering and detail is just exquisite.  And the shoes!  Are you kidding me??  And the coat!!!

I love the tulle behind the snowflake, don't you?

Here's my doll.

Carolynne was restrained in her use of newspaer.  Not me!  I went hog wild.  The background, the banner, her dress and the flowers are all made from newspaper. I used Lindy's Stamp Gang spray on the background and it has a bit of a shimmer to it.  

I have made seasonal dolls that I put out on my hutch.  I'll post more pictures soon.
 In the meantime, see my post here for some dolls I made for Broadway. 

This Old Girl

I love her so much.  She has served me faithfully for over 37 years!  I have had her longer than I've had my children!  She has been with me through thick and thin.  She has let me down occasionally but I never held it against her for long.  Most of the time it was my fault because I neglected her something fierce.  Norm bought her for me in the summer of 1980 in Chino, California.  She was $100.  We had to make payments because we were so poor.

Every time we moved, and we've moved a lot, I carried her in the trunk of my car along with several other precious things I never allowed to go onto a moving truck.

As her name implies she created a lot of Magic.  She helped me de-stress, relax and be creative.  I made leather chaps, prom dresses, little boys overalls, pajama pants, dresses, skirts and tops, buckaroo shirts and more craft items and stuffed lambs than you could ever imagine. Both of my kids learned to sew on her.  She helped Ty make a pair of pajama pants for his girlfriend who is now his wife.  She instilled in him a love for sewing and now he has his own sewing machine.

I made my first 10 or 15 quilts on her and even quilted a few of them.  Quilting is what drove me to purchase a new machine because this old gal doesn't have some of the features I wanted.  I will never get rid of her permanently.  She is always there, waiting and hoping that I'll use her again.  And I will.  I promise.  Thanks, Magic. I will always love you.

Huckleberry Pie revived again

January 4, 2017

Here I am once more attempting to revive my poor neglected blog.  My life has seen some changes and perhaps now I will have the time and inclination to keep it up better.  It snowed most of the night and rained most of the day so it is a wet, sloppy mess out there.  How grateful I am that I didn't have to go out in it.  

I spent time today reflecting back on 2016.  It was an eventful year for sure.  As 2017 begins I thought I would pick a word for the year.  I know others who have done this and they have found it to be a rewarding, experience.  I wasn't sure I wanted to commit to that for a year but after some soul conviction and a desire to make a difference in the lives of others I decided that I would choose a word for my life in 2017. 

 That word is GENEROUS.  This year I will be attempt to be GENEROUS. 

GENEROUS with my time with others.  

GENEROUS with my love for others.

GENEROUS with my forgiveness of others.

GENEROUS with my grace toward others.

GENEROUS with my acceptance of others.

GENEROUS with my laughter with others.

GENEROUS with my love and kindness and caring for others.

GENEROUS with my prayers for others.

And GENEROUS to myself.

GENEROUS with permission to be the best me I can be.

It may not be easy.  NO.  It WON'T be easy but the I'm going to attemp to do it anyway.  

May your New Year be filled with lots of love, life and GENEROSITY! 

Here is the first Pocket letter I ever made.  I exchanged with my dear friend in Ohio.  We are both obsessed with the Julie Nutting paper dolls.  The papers I used are from Crate Paper.  A line called "Farmhouse"

 This is it all folded up and ready to send.  I made a band to go around it to hold it all together.  

This is a close up of the band.  Lots of little details.  

I just love this paper line.  I used a 6x6 pad for this project but I have the 12x12 pad as well.  I'm kind of hoarding it.  The banner across the top is removable.  

Here's a close up of the doll.  She has a lace hanky in her pocket.  

These are tiny Julie Nutting dolls I laminated and make into paper clips.  The rhinestone on this doll and the heart on the one above are adhered on top of the laminate.  They are just so darn cute.

I am hooked on Pocket Letters now, too.  I made on for a sweet young mom in Italy and received a lovely one back.  Next I am making another doll one for a lovely lady here in the US.  

SYS Cards

I like to make what I call Simple Yet Striking cards.  SYS for short.  Here's one I made using a Stamps of Life set called Crazy For Daisies and the matching dies, Tim Holtz's Tattered Leaves die and a simple sentiment stamp.  

This whole card took me less than 15 minutes to make.  In the time it took the hot glue gun to warm up I had it assembled and then I just adhered the rhinestones to the buttons and glued them to the centers of the flowers and voila. Simple Yet Striking.  Don't you agree?

Crazy Birds for Broadway Boys

The girls got Glamour, the boys got Crazy!!!  I made 14 of these for the guys in the cast. Coloring is not my forte although I enjoy doing it.  I'm just not that good at it.  I figured with these silly birds by Tim Holtz I couldn't go too wrong.  I used my Prismacolor Pencils.

By the time I got to these time was at a premium so I only got this one picture.  I used brads on these instead of the flat back pearls.  The music paper is from an old music book.  Again, I hand stamped Best Night Ever.  I don't think you can see but I used Tim's Tiny Attacher to secure the baker's twine and in 2 corners of the music paper.  Tags inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink by Tim Holtz.

Prima Dolls for Broadway

I'm so in love with Julie Nutting's Prima dolls.  I have "adopted" more of them than I care to admit and joined a couple of FB pages.  Here are some tags I made for all the gals in the cast of the Broadway Under The Stars show I did this summer. I made 17 all together.  Because I had to make so many I kept them simple.  

I used all the same elements on each tag. I just switched them around.  Each doll represents a gal in the cast.  Each one has the correct-ish hair color and usually there was something about the doll that reminded me of that person.  

I made my own "chipboard" letters using my Cricut and handstamped the Best Night Ever phrase.  

Each one had something sparkly or shiny and several had bits of lace.  I love these dolls so much.  I'll have more posts of them soon.  

Materials used: The kraft paper is from Joann's cut using SU's Top Note die and inked with Vintage Photo Distressed Ink Pad by Tim Holtz.  The doilies are Martha Stewart purchased at Michael's.  The bodies are stamped on dictionary paper and inked with Vintage Photo. The papers are from my stash.